Fish slicing and backbone-removing machine



c. MEISSNER v FISH SLICING AND BACKBONE REMOVING MACHINE Filed March 8 Mass/v52.

m m E V W.

BY @QZQM A TTORN E Y Sept. 25, 1923.

CH4ELE5 will reduce to a minimum the time,

\ whereby the first cutting 5 means of thebeveled edges atent Sept. 25, .1923&

CHABLES-MEISSNER, QF-SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

I FISH SLICING AND I B ACKBONE-REMOV ING MACHINE.

'- Application filed March s, 1923. Serial No. 623,634.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, CHARLES -Mnrssimn, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Fish Slicing and Backbone Removing Machine is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for slicing fish and removing the backbones thereof, and the objects of my invention are: First, to provide a machine of this class which' a machine of this class in WhlC-lhille cutting members for cutting out and removing the backbone are made toaccommodate the certain sizes of fish; ninth, to'provide a novelly constructed machine of this class, and tenth, of which the following to provide a machinejof this class which is verysimple and economical ofconstruct ion proportionate to its functions, durable, comdeteriorate or get out of order.

With these and other objects in view as for labor and factory'fioor space to slice and remove the backbone of packing, smoking and drying purposes; and ,second,-to provide aimachine of this class which will simultaneously split the belly of "the fish, make two incisions in either side of the-backbone of the fish and cut through the back thereof, will throw the separated backbone into a chute and deflect the edible sides; 'of the fish ,into containers ready for smoking, drying, of otherwise treating the' same or packing purposes; third, to provide a machine of this class in which the capacity thereof is limited only by'the speed at which in section and showing other parts broken the fish are fed into the machine; fourth, away to facilitate the illustration; Fig. 3 is to provide a machine of this class in which, a fragmentarylelevational view of my mathe guide means for the fish is manually chinetaken through 33-of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 and resiliently adjustable to accommodate is a'sectional elevational view of the gear different sizes of fish; fiftl1,'to provide a' machine in which the guide means is substantially always in alignment with the cutting means; sixth, to provide a machineof this class in which the cutting members are sopositioned and arran d relatively the lower or-end portion of the guide means to each other that the fish wil pass immeadjacent the second cutting member. diately from one cutting member to the Like characters of reference refer to simiother by gravity and by. producedby the first cutting member, and eral views 'of the drawings.

member splitting required sists of certain novel features of construcportions as will be hereinafter de- Scribed in detail and particularly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to ,form' a. part of this application, in which:

Figure 1' is a side elevational viewof my machine with the frame and container partly broken away and in section to facilitate the illustration; Fig. 2 is a plan view there- Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is an end view showingthe trough member and construction of the manually and resiliently adjustable guide means, and Fig; 6 is a fragmentary view of of with the gear case and the driving pinion" such driving mechanism taken through 4-4 of The guide member 1, guide support 2,

of fish required to, be cut; eighth, to providea pact, efficient, and, which will not readilyexpense will appear hereinaftenlmy invention con--- fish, for tion, combination and arrangement of parts I the characters of reference thereon, which the momentum lar parts and portions throughout the sev the fish at its normally under side will hinge member 3, supporting frame 4,'wing separate the side portions of the fish by screws 5, telescoping supporting members 6 member and will permit the other cutting 9, shaft 10, journal and housing member 11;

members to freely cut through the back of gear 12, pinion 13,1notor 14, cutting members the fish; seventh, to provide a machine of 15, spindle 16, spacer member 1'? ,nuts 18,gear

this class in'which the guidingmeans may 19, "pinion 20, chute 21, cont-a1ners'22, de-

be positioned differently relatively-to the fleeting members 23, guide .adjiistlng memcutting members, dependent upon the sizes bers 24, support'25, thu'mbscrews 2'6, spreadof the cutting and 7, side guide members 8, cutting member er member 27, and the spring 28, constitute the principal parts and portions of my fish slicing and backbone removing machine.

The fish are fed by any convenient means to the guiding means which consist of the supporting guide member 1 and the guide side members 8. The supporting guide member 1 is V-sha-ped for the reception of the back portion of the fish and is secured to the guiding means supporting member 2- which is hinged near its lower end by means of the hinge member 3 on the supporting frame 4, the one portion of said hinge member being adjustably secured to'thesupport ing frame by means'of the wing screws 5. The--upper, free end of the supporting member 2 is supported by the telescoping sup porting members 6 and 7, the latter of which extends into the former and are respectively pivotally mounted at their ends on the member 2 and the supporting frame 4 b means of the journal members 6 and 7; aid members 6 and 7 are secured relatively to each other bymeans of the wing screw 6". The V-shaped ortion of the member 1 'is of substantial y rigid construction and is provided at its lower portion by hinged portions 1 on either side to which are. hinged I the curved, resilient, side members 8, substantially as shown in Fig.5 of the drawings. The lower end of the supportin member 2 is a continuation of the V'-shape channel portion ,of the member 1, however terminating from a V-shaped channel into a semi-circular channel, ,as. shown best 'in Fi 6 of the drawings. r

' t will benoted that; the fish as fed into this machine havefirst been beheaded and their entrails removed and sorted according to size. F

As the fish .a fed down the guiding lmeans by gravity they first encounter the disc-shaped cutting member 9 which splits the normally underside or the belly of the fish, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the revolution of the cutting member St keeping the fish against the guidspindle by the nut 18. The spindle 16 is ing means and forcing the same toward the other cutting members15. T be cutting mem ber 9 is mounted on the spindle 10 by means of the nut 10*, which spindle is revolubly mounted in the journal and housing member 11 and is provided at its other end with a spur gear 12, which neshes'with a spur;

pinion 13-keyed to the motor shaft 14 ofthe motor 14.,which motor is mounted on the supporting frame 4. I have provided two disc-shaped cutting members 15-which .are mounted on the spindle 16. spaced apart by the spacer member 17 and secured on said revolubly mounted in the journal and housing member 11 an'd isprovi-ded at its other end with a spur gear 19 which meshes with a spur gear 20, also keyed to the motor shaft a clean incision.

tweets 14*. It will be noted that the cutting members 15 are of larger diameter than the cutting member 9 but that the peripheral speeds of said members are substantially the same, due to the smaller diameter of the driving pinion for the cutting members 15. It will also be noted that the member 9 is positioned intermediate the cutting members 15 for economy of space and further to the outer edges so that the backbone out I from thefish will not be crammed between the cutting members but will be carried by the centrifugal force of the cutting mem ber tangentially between the cutting members into the chute 21. The beveled edge of the members. 15 also deflects the edible por- .-tions of the'fish to the side into the containers 22. It will be still further noted that I the cutting edges of the members 15" extend into the slot 2* in the lower portion of the.

guide supporting member 2'so that the fish when being cut willrest in the semi-circular groove of,said member and will thus make The forward portion of the chute 21 is bent inwardly so that the edible portions of the.fish are not likely to, be thrownJinto-the chute but are deflected into the containers 22. Said containers are also provided with deflectors 23 so that the edible portions of the fish will not fall outside of the containers.

It will be noted thatthe ease with which the fish are fed into,the machine is dependent upon the width or spread of the guide means at the feeding eud, and the efficiency and accuracy of thesplitting of and ,the. removal of the backbone of the fish are dependent upon contraction, resiliency and alignment ofthe lower portion of the guide means with the cutting members. To take care of the contraction of the guiding means l5 at the lower end, I have provided guide adjusting members 24 on either side of the guide means, which bear against the upper,

flanged portion of the side members 8.

Said members 24 are reciprocally mounted in a lug 11 on the journal and housing member 11 and a support 25 secured to the supporting frame.

other by the thumbscrews 26. The spreading means near thefeeding end of the guide means consist of aspreadermember 27, reciprocally mounted in a lug 8 on one of the side members, the other end of which spreadermember is positioned in a recess in the other of said side members 8. Posi- Said members 24 are I held in certain relative position with each struction, combination and arrangement,

but desire to include in the scope of my invention the construction, combination and arrangement substantiallyv as set forth in the appended claims. i

Havin thus described my invention, what I c aim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1.- In a machine of the class described, a guide means, a cutting member mounted at the upper side of saidguide .means and spaced apart cutting members positioned from and on either side from said firstmen- 1 tioned cutting member and extendmg into said ide means.

2. n a machine of the class described, a guide means, a cutting member mounted at the upper side of said guide means, spaced apart cutting members positioned from and on either sidefrom said first mentioned cutting member and extending into said, guide means, and a means in connection with said last mentioned cutting members for receiving a portion of the cut'product deflecting other portions thereof.

3. A machine of the class described, in-

' eluding guiding means, spaced apart cutting members extending a. short distance into said guiding means and a receiving and defleeting means positioned contiguous to said cutting members for receiving a portion of the product between said cutting members. d deflectingother portions on the other side thereof.

4 A machineofthe class described, including guiding means, spaced apart cutting membrs beveled only on their outer edges extending a short distance into said, guiding means, and a receiving and deflecting means positioned contlguous to sald cutting members for receiving a portion of the product between said cutting members and deflecting other portions on the other side thereof.

5. A machine of the class described, in-

eluding an adjustable, downwardly converging. guide means, a cutting .member positioned on the open side of and contiguous to said guide means, and other cutting members spaced apart from each other and positioned on either side and in close proximity to said first mentioned cutting member.

6. A machine of the class described, including an adjustable downwardly convergand for ing guide means, a cutting member positioned. on the open side of and. contiguous to said guide means, other cutting members spaced apart from each other and positioned on either side and in close proximity to said first mentioned cutting -member, means for driving said-cutting members, and

a chute in connection with said last mentioned cutting members. 1 h p 7. A machine of the class described, in-

guide means, adjustably supported on said supporting frame, spaced apart cutting members extending a short distance into said guide means, and means for driving said cutting members.

8. A machine of the class described, in-. A eluding a supporting frame, a resilient vguide means, adjustably supported on said supporting frame, spaced apart cutting cluding a supporting frame, a resilient members extending a short distance into said guide means, means for driving said cutting. members, and a receiving and defleeting 'means in connection with said cutting members. 1

9. A machine of the class described, including a supporting frame, a' guide means adjustably supported by said supporting frame and positioned at anangle with the horizontal, spaced apart cutting members revolubly mounted near the lower end of saidguide means, and a chute and deflecting means positioned contiguous to said cutting members.

10. "A machine of the class described, in-

cluding a supporting frame, a resilient, ad-.

justable guide means, angularly positioned and adjustable relatively to said supporting means, a revoluble cutting member posi-. tioned at the open side and contiguous to said guide means, spaced t apart cutting members, also revolubly in'ounted, positioned at the side of said first mentioned cutting member, their I effective cutting edges being in close proximity to each other. 11. machine'of the class described, including a supporting frame, a resilient, adjustable guide means, angularly positioned and adjustable. relatively to said supporting means, a revoluble cutting member positidned at the open side and contiguous to said guide means, spaced apart cutting members, also revolubly ,mounted positioned on the side of said first mentioned cutting member, their effective cutting edges being in close proximity to each I other, and a chute positioned under said lasfimentioned cutting members for receiving 'a sliced portion between said members. 12. .A machine of the class described, inc'luding a supporting frame, a resilient, adjustable guidelmeans, angularly positioned and adjustable relatively to said supporting means, a revoluble cutting member posi-' & v 1,468,972

tionediat the open side and contiguous to .tions between said members, and deflecting said guide means, spaced apart cutting means positioned on the outer sides of said 10 members, also revblubly mounted, positioned last memtioned cutting members. 1, on the side of said first mentioned cutting In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set a member, their effective cutting edges being my hand at San Diego, California, this 3d in close proximity to' eachother, a chute day of March, 1923. positioned under said last mentioned cuti i ting members for receiving the sliced .por- CHARLES MEISSNER. 

